Lansing Township Apartment Fire Leaves 22 Homeless

David Reed was among the 22 people who escaped a burning apartment building saturday in Lansing Township. Gathering what's left of his things, he says, feels all too familiar.

"I just came out of homelessness myself this December," Reed says.

And once again, Reed has found himself without a home, along with his 22 neighbors. The Lansing Township Fire Department says the building at 740 Edgemont Blvd., near Saginaw and Waverly, is untenable Saturday night after suffering a fire that began in the corner unit.

"We had fire coming out the bedroom window," says Lansing Township Fire Department Captain Gary Spalding. "At this point, we do not have a cause. It was a one-room content fire."

"When I opened the door, billows of black smoke and heat were coming in," Reed recalls. "A person was crawling past my door in a blanket."

Thankfull no one was killed or injured in the blaze. The Red Cross was there to help the tenants pick up the pieces, literally and figuratively.They've put them up in motels and are replacing their burned clothes.

"When I got here, they were upset about what they were going to do, where they were going to stay, what's going to happen to them," says Red Cross volunteer John Sweet.

Some tenants had minimal damage and they'll be able to return to their apartments Sunday. For others, charred remains of household items and furniture is all that's left from their apartments.

"They've pretty much lost everything," Sweet says. "It's really emotional for them to lose that. It's everything they've got in the world."

Regardless if it's a familiar feeling or not, it will take a lot of strength for these tenants to get through this tragedy.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.